Most cigar boxes are constructed and decorated so as to be aesthetically pleasing, and some of them are downright beautiful, so that customer's senses are drawn to the box as well as to the cigars. Some cigar boxes are designed to provide for better display of the box and the cigars they contain. Some cigar boxes are designed with clever and useful functional improvements that make the selection, acquisition, and purchase easier and more interesting, and thus more satisfying. It is all part of the experience.
High quality cigars are often displayed at retail tobacco stores in boxes on shelves in room-size humidors, in order to keep them at the optimum humidity. If the humidity is too low for too long, the cigars will dry out. If the humidity is too high for too long, they will become moldy. The designs of such humidors vary. Some have flat (i.e., level) shelves, while others have inclined shelves that slope toward the customer and terminate in a lip to keep the cigar boxes from falling off. Some have a combination—flat or level lower shelves and inclined upper shelves, so that the user can optimally see and access all the cigars, in the midlevel and higher boxes as well as in the lower boxes. That makes it unnecessary to remove a box from the shelves in order to see the cigars or remove cigars from the box. Of course, cigars are also displayed for retail sale in boxes that are not in humidors, such as in drugstores and restaurants. Display and access is important in this case as well. Such displays are usually on level surfaces.
If there is sufficient shelf space, most conventional rectangular cigar boxes displayed on shelves are displayed as shown for example in FIG. 1. Box 10, which is connected to lid 12 by paper hinge 14, rests on a shelf 11. Box 10 is in a “parallel” position relative to the shelf, with a long side close to the viewer and abutting the lip of the shelf Lid 12 is open, so that the cigars and the graphics on the inner surface of the lid are displayed to the customer. The open lid, being behind box 10, disadvantageously prevents another box from being positioned behind box 10.
If there insufficient shelf space (i.e., too many boxes to be displayed in the parallel position), the boxes are sometimes placed in a “perpendicular” position on the shelves, with a short side closest to the viewer as shown for example in FIG. 2. The problem with perpendicular placement is that lid 12 of box 10 now blocks the adjacent box. To solve this problem, the lid can be torn off the box, as shown in FIG. 3. However, this not only eliminates the functional advantages of the lid, but also sacrifices the attractive graphics which are likely provided on the inside of the lid, and leaves unsightly ragged nubs 16.
Another functional consideration is the humidity retention properties of a closed cigar box which is not in a humidity-controlled environment. A tight air seal is preferable to a more permeable air seal.